“Derceto” is a single-level WAD that attempts to recreate the whole of the first “Alone In The Dark” game using the “Doom” engine. One of the first things that I will say here is that whilst this is a very good re-creation of “Alone In The Dark”, you shouldn’t expect a perfect re-creation.

Due to the use of the default textures and the limitations of the “Doom” engine, some slight changes have had to be made to the level. For example, it isn’t possible to have floors on top of each other – so the three floors of the house are still separated by staircases, but these are spread out more horizontally.

Still, as staircases go, this one is fairly impressive.

The famous hole in the floor is a lot less deadly than it was in the original game though.

Even so, all of the familiar parts of the Derceto mansion are still here. There’s the gloomy library (complete with a puzzle), there’s the zombie-filled dining room and, yes, there’s even the underground maze too.

Yay! I remember this corridor! Best of all, the haunted paintings have been replaced by friendly cacodemons.

I’d just forgotten about THIS maze… only to be reminded of it again by this WAD. Oh joy!

Although this area looks cooler in the original game, I’m still amazed that someone has been able to re-create it in “Doom II” 🙂

Although some of the recreated locations aren’t perfect, this WAD does a great job of recreating the atmosphere of the original “Alone In The Dark”. There are a couple of of creepy darkened rooms, a couple of slightly tricky puzzles and quite a few ominously gloomy corridors that help to add a bit of suspense to the level.

One problem I had initially when playing this level for the first time was that I couldn’t seem to find a way to complete it. However, after talking with the creator of the WAD (in the comments on another review) and re-playing the level (with “Pirate Doom“), I discovered that there is actually a way to complete the level – however, it takes a bit of experimentation and observation to find it.

In terms of the difficulty, “Derceto” is a slightly more challenging WAD than I had originally expected. Whilst it isn’t too difficult, don’t expect it to be easy either. A lot of the difficulty comes from the fact that you won’t get any weapons other than the basic pistol and basic shotgun during the earlier parts of the level. In addition to this, there are also plenty of cramped corridors (some of which contain revenants) and at least two arch-viles in this level:

Well, it’s still a “Doom II” level. So, including at least one of these creatures is pretty much mandatory.

In terms ot the music, I’m not sure if the background music is part of the “Alone In The Dark” soundtrack, but it’s the kind of ominously creepy music that you would expect to find when playing a level set in a haunted mansion.

All in all, although “Derceto” isn’t a “100% perfect” recreation of “Alone In The Dark”, it’s still a really cool level that certainly captures at least some of the atmosphere of the original game.